The idea of an artificial intelligence apocalypse is over-hyped, but still worth considering, write Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt and Google X founder Sebastian Thrun in an op-ed published on Fortune.

"Some voices have fanned fears of AI and called for urgent measures to avoid a hypothetical dystopia," they write. "We take a much more optimistic view."

"Do we worry about the doomsday scenarios? We believe it's worth thoughtful consideration. Today's AI only thrives in narrow, repetitive tasks where it is trained on many examples. But no researchers or technologists want to be part of some Hollywood science-fiction dystopia. The right course is not to panic — it's to get to work. Google, alongside many other companies, is doing rigorous research on AI safety, such as how to ensure people can interrupt an AI system whenever needed, and how to make such systems robust to cyberattacks."